Dwayne Taylor (Earth-616)
| CurrentAlias = Night Thrasher | Aliases = Thrash, The Bondage Queen | Identity = Secret | Affiliation = , formerly , , , , , , MRVL Network | Relatives = Moses Targum (possible ancestor, deceased); unnamed paternal grandparents (deceased); Daryl Taylor (father, deceased); Melody Ann Taylor (mother, deceased); Bandit (Donyell Taylor) (paternal half-brother); Andrew Chord (godfather, former legal guardian); Tai (former legal guardian, deceased); Rage (Elvin Haliday) (adoptive son, deceased); Microbe (Zachary Smith Jr.) (adoptive son, deceased) | Universe = Earth-616 | BaseOfOperations = Mobile across U.S.; formerly Taylor Foundation, Crash Pad | Gender = Male | Height = 6'3" | Weight = 240 lbs | Eyes = Brown | Hair = Black | UnusualFeatures = Scar across right cheek (mirroring the one he gave Midnight's Fire) | Citizenship = American | MaritalStatus = Single | Occupation = CEO Taylor Foundation, adventurer, Vigilante | Education = | Origin = Human vigilante; After Dwayne Taylor's parents were murdered in his childhood, he trained himself into becoming Night Thrasher | PlaceOfBirth = | PlaceOfDeath = | Creators = Tom DeFalco; Ron Frenz | First = Thor #411 | HistoryText = Early Life Dwayne Taylor was the son of Darryl and Melody Taylor. Dwayne's father was a member of a military unit fighting in the Siancong War, which discovered the secret Temple of the Dragon's Breadth. At the temple, a sorceress named Tai of her daughters, and give her their mystically-powered offspring to use for her own nefarious purposes. Darryl Taylor refused to participate in the pact because he already had a wife back home. Darryl's unit commander Andrew Chord and the other soldiers submitted to the Pact, however, and Tai sought revenge against Darryl years later. She mentally forced Chord to murder Darryl and Melody in front of Dwayne. Tai then stepped in and manipulated Dwayne's mind, clouding his memories so that he only remembered his parents dying, not who killed them. Tai and Chord became Dwayne's guardians, and nurtured his desire to avenge his parents' deaths by becoming a living weapon against crime. They oversaw the day-to-day activities of his father's company, the Taylor Foundation, while Dwayne trained for his mission. As the uncostumed urban vigilante called Night Thrasher, he met two other fighters named Midnight's Fire and Silhouette, who wanted to stop the gang activity in their neighborhood. None of them were aware at the time that Fire and Sil were long-lost children of the Pact, born to Chord and Tai's daughter, Miyami. Thrash and the siblings teamed up against the gangs for several weeks, and Thrash and Sil began a relationship. When Fire and Thrash oversaw Sil posing as a drug mule during a buy, however, a street cop happened across the meeting and pulled his gun. Midnight's Fire pulled a blade, and Thrash thought he intended to kill the cop. While the two friends struggled, one of the drug runners pulled his own gun and ended up shooting Silhouette in the spine. Midnight's Fire was furious, and blamed Dwayne for what happened. He slashed Dwayne across the face with his blade and ended their friendship. Dwayne didn't know if Sil was alive or dead after that, and he commissioned Chord to help him build a suit of armor to deal with superhuman criminal threats like Midnight's Fire. The New Warriors Recalling how well he worked with Fire and Sil in better days, Night Thrasher brought together the New Warriors, a group of 6 teen heroes who were trying to find their place in the world. However, Dwayne often found himself at odds with the team due to his extreme stance on crime. He met Silhouette again and learned she survived the gunshots, but was left crippled from the waist down. When the Warriors' ethics got in the way of finding out the truth about his past, Thrash angrily "disbanded" them to seek his own answers. When Tai and Chord encouraged Dwayne to form the Warriors, what he did not realize was that his team was meant to replace the original 6 Children of the Pact as sacrificial lambs for the Well of All Things. At the same time, 4 of the 5 "offspring," Midnight's Fire, Smiling Tiger, Bloodstrike, and Silk Fever, were brought together by Diego Casseas, the Left Hand, a member of the original military unit who had altered Tai's plans by stealing his daughter's powers. Diego brought this group together as the Folding Circle, and even convinced Dwayne to join in a promise to answer all the mysteries of Dwayne's life. The truth was that Diego merely wanted to kill Tai and sacrifice the Warriors to get the power himself, but his plan failed. The Circle would again fight Dwayne later on, and Dwayne has a special hate for Fire, who betrayed his own sister Silhouette. Dwayne befriended Elvin Haliday (Rage), when he was kicked off the Avengers for being too young. Dwayne identified with the young African-American man, so full of anger, who just wanted to make things right. After Elvin's grandmother was killed by the Poison Memories gang, Dwayne became his legal guardian. After he returned to the team, he again abandoned them when their ethics got in his way. This time his departure caused a tragedy, as Namorita was abducted and mind-controlled for months while Thrash and Rage were off serving their own agenda. The Warriors voted him off the team for this. Psionex After Dwayne was kicked off the Warriors, he brought together his team's old enemies, Psionex, and tried to turn them into a super-hero team. While the members truly did want to help the world, they were too uncontrollable and "psychotic" to be of much help. Thrash eventually quit the team and rejoined the Warriors, and Psionex's fate is unknown. Foundation's Fall & Reality Show Dwayne officially 'retired' from being a hero, but stayed semi-active while running the Taylor Foundation. He sought to use the family business to make the world a better place in ways his fists and armor couldn't, and became heavily involved in cancer research. He hand-picked a staff of microbiologists, one of whom developed what seemed to be a cure for cancer. The cure for cancer turned out to have actually been the work of the biologist's mutant son, who'd used his powers to 'tell' the cure what to do, which shattered the Taylor Foundation. Dwayne salvaged what he could of the Foundation, and ended up adopting the scientist's mutant son Microbe after the scientist killed himself trying to prove his cancer cure worked. Wishing to reactivate the Warriors, Thrash approached a television production company to bankroll and promote the team, packaging their adventures as a reality TV show, and reassembled the Warriors, plus Microbe, to travel the country hunting supervillains that are hiding in small towns. Death The New Warriors faced off against Nitro, Coldheart, Speedfreak and Cobalt Man in Stamford, Connecticut for their reality show. During this scuffle Night Thrasher fought Coldheart side by side with Namorita and watched her trying to take down a fleeing Nitro. However as Nitro was slammed against a school bus, he activated his power and caused a massive explosion, killing the present New Warriors (except Speedball) and almost everyone around that area. Night Thrasher Legacy In the aftermath of the Civil War, a new team calling themselves the New Warriors appeared. They were recruiting underground, undiscovered, and de-powered heroes who strongly disagreed with the Superhuman Registration Act. Initially believed to be Dwayne himself, somehow having escaped death, this Night Thrasher was later revealed to be his half-brother, Donyell, having taken up his legacy. When these New Warriors disbanded and Donyell joined an incarnation reminiscent of the original team, the team continued their anti-Initiative actions. Following Norman Osborn's takeover of the nation's defense systems, including the Initiative, these New Warriors helped former Initiative members Tigra and Gauntlet escape capture and became known as the Avengers Resistance. While serving with this team, Donyell was approached by the Hood, who offered him a cloned version of his brother, and the promise that he could place the original Dwayne's soul into the clone's body, essentially recreating the original Dwayne Taylor. Donyell was torn over this decision, and the situation ultimately came to a head during the Resistance's assault on Camp H.A.M.M.E.R., the new base for the Initiative training program and secretly the Hood's control center. Return In reality, the Night Thrasher never died at all. He was pulled into the future a moment before he would've been killed by Nitro's explosion by the Collector, who was using the power of the Iso-8. From then on, Night Thrasher became an unwilling participant of the Collector's "Contest of Champions" against the Grandmaster for the Iso-Sphere, which was being waged in the alternate reality known as Battlerealm. Not long after Night Thrasher's arrival, the Collector's and the Grandmaster's assistants, the Maestro and the Punisher, put in motion a plan to rebel against their masters. After acquiring the Iso-Sphere for himself, the Maestro became the god of Battlerealm, and imprisoned the participants. The Ultimates from the mainstream universe arrived to Battlerealm after having investigated the disappearance of other super-humans who had been brought to Battlerealm for the Contest. When he transported the Ultimates back to their universe, Maestro used the opportunity to return Night Thrasher with them instead of White Fox, aware of the problem that Taylor posed for his plans in Battlerealm. War on the Streets After the Punisher was hunted by Mayor Fisk and the newly reformed Thunderbolts in the streets of New York City, Night Thrasher brought Punisher to an undisclosed location to try to convince him that he couldn't handle the army that has been gunning for him. Castle finally agreed to the plan so Thrasher along with Moon Knight, Black Widow, Sargent Cole-Alves and Ghost Rider joined forces in the crusade against Baron Zemo. | Powers = None confirmed. * Genecide identified him as having "advanced DNA". She implied he had a minor mutation for psionic protection. * The White Queen found him to have powerful mental barriers (though this could be pure force of will and training). ** This is more likely the result of Tai's tampering of his memory as she revealed. This is why he could never remember his parents faces. | Abilities = Master Martial Artist: Taylor is an extremely skilled hand-to-hand combatant, trained in many martial arts including an unspecified Japanese martial art. Athletic prowess and fighting ability are par excellence; he has been able to hold his own against the Punisher. Skilled Acrobat: He is also an excellent gymnast. Weapons Designer: Taylor is a talented weapons and armor designer who often dabbles with any new ideas or known possibilities. Computer Literacy: He also possesses a high proficiency in computer tapping, software coding, security set-up, and hacking. Telepathic Resistance: He also has proven to have mental barriers that provide him with increased resistance against telepathy and mental attacks. | Strength = Peak human strength, through his suits boost his strength with hydraulics. | Weaknesses = | Equipment = *'Battle Armors:' **''Mark I:'' A special suit of light articulated combat armor composed of Kevlar/boro and silicate-oriented fiber in ceramic matrix, 2 layers, 8 mm/16 mm thick, and the cloth composed of micro-mail titanium nitride; he originally designed the battle-suit to survive physical combat with Silhouette's brother Midnight's Fire. The costume cannot be penetrated by bullets from conventional firearms or by knives and is fireproof. The suit is also composed of a wafer-thin L.E.D. casing that allows the suit to camouflage itself within its surroundings. The helmet contained goggles (integral) with infrared sighting, telescopic lens, magnetic resonance scanning, and camera attachment. The helmet also includes a breathing apparatus, voice scrambler, two-way radio communications device, parabolic sound enhancer, and cybernetic link to armor systems. **''Mark II:'' The gauntlets could deploy pneumatically-fired grapnel lines for traversing rooftops, and contained retractable blades, as well as an extendable computer tap. He also had a utility pack with various shaped explosives, plastique, napalm gel, and cordite packs, magnesium flares, smoke capsules, incendiary packs, caltrops/spur jacks, and ball bearings in it. The back pack also contained a glider chute and an advanced active camouflage system. **''Last Armor:'' His last suit was just as durable offering as much protection as the previous armors, but it was not as bulky as the others; most people and heroes would assume it to be spandex. It possessed a number of abilities although many of them were unrevealed. Among the identified were jet boots, and a hidden harness containing a number of miniature firearms, projectiles, and long range weaponry. | Transportation = High tech, armored fiberglass skateboard, private helicopters, jets, motorcycle. | Weapons = Escrima sticks, gauntlets that could fire pepper spray, sleeping gas, or explosively launch his metal escrima sticks. An emergency micro Uzi submachine gun, various explosives, spur jacks to blow out tires, napalm gel, smoke capsules, magnesium flares, incendiary packs, ball bearing to trip foes, a large hammer, laser sword, and an armored skateboard that can also be used as a weapon or shield. | Notes = * Night Thrasher's original costume design included a bullet-proof skateboard and a hidden machine gun. ** Andrew Chord presumably had a major hand in designing the armor. The armor is patterned after the guards guarding the Dragon's Breath Cult in Cambodia that Chord encountered when he and Dwayne's father Daryl served in the Vietnam War. | Trivia = * Tom DeFalco based Night Thrasher on newsstand market research. One time he was visiting Marvel Comics' newsstand distributor he asked their representative if any particular magazines were selling to teenage boys. He pointed DeFalco to skateboarding magazines like Thrasher, which DeFalco studied and based Night Thrasher on them. }} | Links = * New Warriors Continuity Conundrum * New Warriors Message Board }} References Category:Millionaires Category:Telepathic Immunity Category:Media-Driven Characters Category:Taylor Family Category:Chord Family Category:Gymnasts Category:Stamford casualties Category:Acrobats Category:Time-Looped Category:Interdimensional Travelers